We finished our first journey!

Well, we finished our first Daisy Journey last night! I decided to try to finish Welcome to the Daisy Garden last night because my co-leader, Becke, is close to having her baby, and due to holidays and council events, the troop won't meet again until December. So I thought it would be nice to finish the book while she was still with us (she will be on maternity leave for the rest of the year.)

By finishing our journey book, our newest troop member earned her Daisy petals and the entire troop earned their journey patch. I am working today on sewing my daughter's to her vest. I actually decided to resew most of her fun patches on her vest. I had spaced them liberally and I was worried there may not have been room for the patches we earn this year in scouts. I took the opportunity to fix a few things that were bothering me -- I had sewn her petals on with a variegated rainbow thread that is cute on fun patches but just didn't work on the petals. I usually sew patches on with my sewing machine's zigzag stitch. If I can't match the patch's color with my thread, I try to use a contrasting thread from the patch itself, and if all else fails, I use my rainbow thread. It usually works out pretty well. My theory is, if you're going to see my stitches, then SEE my stitches. On the journey patch though, I decided to sew the background patch on with my machine and then hand-sew the 3 smaller patches on. It is so much easier to hide stitches when they are hand sewn.

Month #8 -- Earning our Green and Rose Petals

Our meeting this month was on Earth Day, and I thought it was the perfect day to learn about and earn our Green and Rose petals for using our resources wisely and making the world a better place. I started the meeting by talking with the girls about what Earth Day is. Most of them had learned about it in school and grasped the concept pretty well. We then started talking about recycling, I was very happy to hear that most of the girls do some sort of recycling with their families. I handed out recycling stickers for them to label their recycling bins. These stickers are available for free at our library and are sponsored by our Municipal Utilities. We then began to talk about reusing items that can't necessarily be recycled. An example I gave them was of the fairy house I made with my daughters out of an old orange juice jug. We hot glued all kinds of found objects to the jug, anything bright and shiny that our local fairies might like (glass pebbles, marbles, sea shells, old jewelry, beads, mirrors, etc). The girls then placed the fairy house outside and we waited for a garden fairy to move in. This project allowed us to use a jug in a new way, decorating our yard instead of throwing it in the local landfill.

The girls and I then talked about how taking care of the Earth can make the world a better place. If we practice good habits like picking up litter, we might brighten someone else' day or inspire them to pick up a piece of litter too.
Our craft project this week was to create Bird Nest Kits. We wanted to reuse a seemingly useless item from our everyday lives. The girls agreed with me that nests made out of sticks might be pokey to sit on, so we thought the birds could use our old dryer lint to line their nests. I found this project in an Earth Day Craft book, the original instructions saying to use milk cartons. Since part of the lesson was to use resources wisely, I explained to the girls that I didn't have any milk cartons, but I did have miniature cereal boxes. Before the meeting I asked the parents of the troop to save their dryer lint and bright pieces of string. I then cut "windows" into the broad sides of the cereal boxes. At troop meeting, the girls stuffed their boxes with their dryer lint. Some girls forgot their dryer lint or did not have enough to fill the box, so we shared. The boxes were then tied with hemp cord so that the girls could take them home and hang them from their trees.

Unfortunately, less than half of my troop attended this meeting, so I sent out e-mails asking them to work with their parents on a project that recycles or reuses household items we would normally throw away. The girls will officially earn their petals when they tell me about what they made with their mom and dad. The girls have no rules on these projects except that we don't want to pollute our yards if we can help it. We should try to use items that will degrade naturally like papers, cardboard, natural strings and glues.

Month #7 -- Earning our Violet Petals

To earn our violet petals, my girls made a pen pal kit to send to our sister daisy troop in Kentucky. You may remember from previous blog entries that I met another beginning troop leader on Facebook who is from Kentucky -- the same town I lived in for 4 years before coming to South Dakota. We gathered a few things and sent them off to Kentucky to show our sister scouts what South Dakota is like. Our first item was a letter from myself to their troop. Here is the text:
Dear Troop 730,

Hi! My name is Sarah, I am the troop leader for Daisy Troop 50382 in Watertown, South Dakota. There are 9 girls in our troop, they are all in kindergarten. We are learning many new things in Girl Scouts this year. We have participated in a SWAP, we made cookies for “Love Our Community” Day and we just visited the fire station to earn our Red Petals.
We are excited to learn about Kentucky. Most of the girls in our troop have never been to Kentucky but my daughter S was born there! My family lived in Danville for 4 and ½ years. My husband worked at a local manufacturing company, I worked at a local veterinary hospital and we went to church at Centenary United Methodist.
We are enclosing a few things to help you learn about our town and our state. Watertown has some really great ways to keep kids busy. We have a zoo, a big library, a water park and an opera house that gets educational displays like dinosaur fossils. We also thought you might like some of our SWAPs!
Thank you so much for being our Sister-Troop and for helping us to learn how to be a sister to every Girl Scout!

The next item included in the pen pal pack was a picture drawn by each of my scouts of their favorite thing to do here in Watertown. Everyone drew swimming! I think it was a hint that the girls were sick of winter. Each girl signed the Pen Pal letter as well. We included enough of our SWAPs for each girl in their troop and a map/tourist information on Watertown. We are excitedly waiting their letter!

Month #6 -- Earning our Orange Petals

I apologize, I missed a meeting in my blog entries! This should have been between the first cookie shop entry and the end of cookie sales.
Cookie sales gave us a nice opportunity to teach the girls about being responsible. During our March meeting we went over the basics of how to behave at the cookie shops. We talked about the rules and asked the girls for their ideas. Then we set up a mock cookie shop and I pretended to be the Girl Scout selling cookies. Becke was the customer. We showed the girls that they must speak politely to the customer if they want to sell cookies. We also showed the girls possible scenarios they might encounter at cookie shops. We discussed things like:
1. Speaking clearly to customers
2. Answering questions for the customers and not being afraid to ask Mom, Dad or the troop leaders for help.
3. Never following a customer to their car.
4. Always saying thank-you after speaking to a customer, even if they don't buy cookies from us.
Our goal was to help the girls be responsible for their own words and actions. I think it worked pretty well. We also talked with them about listening to the volunteer Moms, Dads & the troop leaders when we are selling in public. People might not want to buy cookies from a Girl Scout who does not respect authority, so we were able to sneak in an early lesson towards our Purple and Magenta petals.

Month #5 -- Earning our Red Petals

We have had many opportunities to earn our red petals for being courageous and strong. The girls attended "Animal Yoga" in December to earn this patch as well as learning new exercises for their homework this past month. As an extra opportunity to try new things, I brought a hula hoop, a jump rope and an ankle skipping toy (sorry, I don't remember what it is called.) The girls enjoyed trying to hula hoop, though only a few were "pros", and jumping rope was by far the most popular activity. None of the girls was able to figure out the skipping toy, but everyone gave it a try. Our most recent opportunity to work on this petal was a trip to the fire station. We talked with Firefighter Troy about fire safety and how to be courageous and smart during a fire. The girls got a chance to walk through an ambulance and the big ladder truck! (Pictures to come, I promise!) We really enjoyed ourselves and learned a lot. At our next meeting the girls will be making a thank you card for the firefighters who talked with us.
Our craft project for the month was to make bead-ballerinas. The girls used beads, pipe-cleaners and paper muffin cups to make their ballerinas. We talked about being physcially strong and practicing a lot to learn skills like ballet, gymnastics, swimming and other sports.
To start the girls thinking about their next petal, Orange for Responsible for What I Say and Do, I read the girls some short stories from a book called, I Did It, I'm Sorry. The girls were given a set of multiple choices of how to correctly handle each situation, for example when something gets broken at home. I asked the girls to remember these lessons for the next month and try very hard to admit when they had done something wrong. I also asked them to remember to follow rules like wearing seatbelts.

Month #4 -- Earning our Light Green Petals

This month we needed to talk about earning our Light Green petals as well as prepare for our Red petals. Two of the girls in the troop missed the meeting in December, so I decided to read a story to the girls that had lessons about being considerate and caring as well as being brave and strong. I felt that the fable The Lion and the Mouse would fit perfectly. I started out by asking if the Lion was brave and strong, the girls agreed, but they also agreed that he didn't have to be nice to anyone if he didn't want to, since he is the king of the jungle. They thought the Mouse might be caring but since mice always run away and hide, they aren't very brave. At the end of the story the girls saw that the Lion had tried being considerate and caring and the Mouse had found courage. To back up the lesson, I created a bookmark as our craft. The girls colored and cut out the bookmark. When the bookmark is closed the Lion says, "I can be considerate and caring" and the mouse sits at his feet. When the mouse is pulled down, the message "and I can be courageous and brave." apears. Click here if you for the PDF would like to use this craft. For homework I asked the girls to find a new exercise to learn, reminding them that exercise makes their bodies strong. For example, Sammi wants to learn to hula hoop.

Month #3 -- Earning our Yellow Petals

We started this meeting by practicing the Girl Scout Promise. For less than $1.00 I bought a sheet of poster board and wrote out the Promise and the Law. I read the Promise to the girls once and then asked them to read it aloud with me. To earn our Yellow Petals, for being friendly and helpful, the girls were supposed to help out around the house without being asked. Most of the girls were able to give specific jobs they had helped with at home. Their moms were usually able to tell me if they had done well or not.
We then moved on to a story to help them thinking about our next petal, light green for being considerate and caring. Since this was our December meeting I chose to read them a story about Christmas. I chose a wonderful book about a bear who stays up after everyone else has gone to bed and makes presents for all of his friends, even though he can barely keep his eyes open. I started the conversation with them about what we care about this time of year and how to be considerate to families who are less fortunate. Each girl was given $0.50 to place in a Salvation Army bucket. I will ask the girls at the next meeting whether they kept the money for themselves or if they shared it with a family who could really use it.
Our craft for this month was to make Christmas ornaments. I would like to start a tradition with the girls in my troop. Every year they will make a new ornament that symbolizes what we are working on that year. This year I fell in love with some penguins made out of socks. I did have to do most of the prep work -- stuffing and sewing the socks, cutting out the felt pieces and as a special gift to the girls I made bead daisies for their ornaments to wear as necklaces.
Here is a picture of Sammi with her ornament. She colored his gray parts with a black fabric marker, but he's still pretty cute.

And you can download the instructions to make this ornament here, it is a PDF file.

Month #2 Earning our light blue petals

This month we had a whole lot of stuff to cover in not so much time!
We had all 8 of the original girls in the troop plus a new girl joined Girl Scouts and became part of our troop, and Becke's daughter (3 years old) got to come and take part in the fun!
Thank goodness for parents who were able to iron patches onto the girls' vests while the girls worked with Becke and I. We started off by talking a little bit about how the girls were honest and fair during the last month. We used the example of trick-or-treating at houses where a bowl of candy is set outside with a sign that says, "take one please". Sammi told how she had only taken one piece but her friend took two. We then played a fun game where the girls each started out with 10 pennies. I asked them 10 questions and they were told to answer honestly and put one of their pennies into the center if their answer was "yes". The girls knew at the end of the game one of them would receive the pennies but not if it would be the girl with most pennies at the end or if it would be the girl with the least. The ten questions were:
1. Have you ever ridden on an airplane?
2. Have you ever left this state?
3. Have you ever left America?
4. Have you ever swam in the ocean?
5. Have you ever ridden a horse?
6. Have you ever been inside a cave?
7. Do you sleep with a special stuffed animal?
8. Do you like to eat vegetables?
9. Have you ever been to see a movie at the theater?
10. Can you tie your own shoes?
At the end of the game I randomly chose an adult to decide if the girl with the least or the most pennies left would win the "pot". The girl with just 1 penny left won and everyone seemed okay with that. We also had a chance later in the meeting to display being fair. When the girl in charge of snacks this month was handing out her snacks, one girl said "No thank you." Then later the little girl changed her mind and asked for a snack. Other little girls started asking for more snacks and I told them that to be fair, each little girl could only have one snack since there wasn't enough for everyone to have two.
click here to see a picture of my daisies
(I blurred the faces of the girls whose parents have not yet signed the release forms to have their daughter's pictures posted online.)
We also made turkey crowns to celebrate Thanksgiving. My girls had wonderful things to be thankful for, some even said they were thankful for their troop leaders. I didn't get to tell them, but I am very thankful for my daisies and their parents who have been so helpful. To start the girls thinking about being friendly and helpful for next month, I read them a story about doing chores to help mom and dad and then I gave them little slips of paper to leave behind if they do a chore without being told. Mom and Dad are going to keep track of them and let me know if they did at least 6 chores without being asked during this month.

Month #1 -- Earning the daisy center.

Tonight we're having our first official troop meeting. I will be working with the girls on earning our daisy center. Most of the online GS sites I've read recommend making bracelets with beads the color of each of the petals for this goal. I was planning to have the girls make nametags tonight, and it occurred to me that we could incorporate the beads into that project. I am also hoping to start working lessons like "use resources wisely" and "make the world a better place" into each project we do. For example, our nametags start with a recycled piece of plastic. The plastic comes from the library cards at work. When the cards come to us they are secured in a sheet of 6 -- each card actually being 2 pieces, a wallet card and a keychain card. We normally cut the plastic braces apart and discard. As a joke, a coworker suggested we should find a craft to make out of them. Inspiration struck at just the right moment, and I saw the beginnings of our nametags.
I cut and glued cardstock to the plastic braces using a craft glue, and then let it dry. Then I wrote the girls' names in the top section, leaving the large opening for the girls. My plan is to give the girls markers and ask them to do whatever they like on their nametag. They can write their name again or draw pictures or both. Whatever makes them happy. Then we will insert cords through the punched holes, stringing beads as we go. I prepared enough nametags for the girls, my assistant and for myself. As well as one extra, just in case.